First Quarter Top 5

It's been a rough few days in our house and so looking through my photos from the last 3 months has been a fantastic reminder of the blessings in my life. Here are my top 5 photos of my kids from the first 3 months of this year.

There's nothing spectacular about the photography in this photo, but Will's little smile peeking out from behind the mask makes me smile every time I look at it.

Here's Addy sitting on the front steps blowing bubbles. I love how much she puckers up to blow those bubbles!

Will and his grumpy face. He thinks it's funny to cross his arms and make that face and then have us do it back. How can you not look at that face and smile?

I posted this one last week for the scavenger hunt. I really love the composition of this photo and the sun flare.

Ellie and the snake she made during one of our 30 days of creative play.

Scrapbooking Your Faith: Prayer Board

The second assignment for week 3 of Scrapbooking Your Faith was to make a prayer board to be put up somewhere in your home. Courtney suggested using a cork square, which come in 12x12. I again used Bsaic Grey "Porcelain" papers for this. The soft colors and patterns lend themselves well to this subject and the green goes well with the green in my kitchen which is where this will be hung.

For the green lace, I didn't have any that matched my colors and the "white" lace I have seems to have some stains on it, so I took my Distress Ink pad in Forest Moss and pressed it on the lace. I sprayed that with water to spread the ink. Then I took another green ink pad and pressed that in a few spots to add a little variation in color. I again sprayed it to spread the ink.

For the word "Pray," I used the font on my "Botanicals" Lite Cricut cartridge. The background papers are attached to the cork with staples and everything else is attached as it normally would be on a paper layout.

My plan is to have post-its available to write our prayer requests on. These will be placed on the board. Part of the process was to also have a way to see that prayers are being answered. I haven't decided yet what our process will be for that yet. I plan to get a 12x12 frame to place this in and then hang it in my kitchen.

By the way, the cork comes in packs of 4 so if anyone is interested in a square (or 2 or 3), let me know, I will get it to you!

April Calendar Page

I once again am getting this done "just in time." I used two page sketch #26 on Sketch Support. I also used the weekly challenge at Club CK for this week which is a recipe challenge with a twist. The recipe was to use

1.) a circle of any size

2.) flowers

3.) pattern paper

4.) butterflies or bees

The twist was to make a stitched path behind the butterflies or bees. Here is my layout:

I used October Afternoon "Modern Homemaker" patterned papers. I used my Cricut and the "Walk in My Garden" cartridge for my bees. The left hand page will be up on our calendar for the next month.

Nuts About Sketches #206

This week's sketch at Nuts About Sketches was a single page with a single photo. I actually ended up using just one photo for this one! I decided to do a layout about all the funny expressions Ellie used to use. I had originally had the idea for this layout about a year ago, but just now finally got around to doing it. It's a good thing I had written down the funny expressions when I first thought of it, otherwise I wouldn't have remembered them! I stuck fairly close to the sketch, but I rotated it and turned the diamond element into a bracket shape and then swapped the title and journaling locations.  To pull in the blue a little more, I went around the edges of the paper with a Q-tip dipped in blue Glimmer Mist.  

You can see what the rest of the design team did here.

Unscripted Sketches and Cards from Card Making Day

Yesterday I held a Card Making Day at my house. Six of my friends were able to stop by and make cards. I had a great time and I hope they did too! Over the course of the day, I was able to make 7 cards!

For this card I used this week's sketch at Unscripted Sketches. I used a stamp set that I had kind of forgotten about until I saw someone else using it. I stamped the same image 4 times in brown. After I had attached them to the card I decided I wanted a little variation in the design so I stamped it again using Versamark and gold embossing powder. I attached that square to my card using foam adhesive to give it a little dimension.

For the rest of my cards I focused on using up scraps and using some different Cricut cuts.

Photo Scavenger Hunt 3-25-12

This week's scavenger hunt was an exercise in missed opportunities. I forgot to bring or use my camera on a couple of occasions that would have been perfect for the prompts. It is a good reminder of why I am doing this though, because I have clearly gotten out of the habit of taking photos. Here are my interpretations of the prompts:

Whimsy
The girls were in their dress up fairy and princess clothes earlier this week and they (and Will) were happy to pose for me.

Create
Here is my first missed opportunity. I had a Card Making Day at my house as a chance for my friends to help me make cards for Operation Write Home. I even had my camera upstairs, but I totally forgot to take any photos. So a photo of the final product (51 cards!) will have to do...

Dust
I dusted earlier this week (I don't do it often, it is not my favorite chore) and as I was doing it, I kept thinking, "I should take a picture first." Well, I didn't so we'll have to go with chalk dust for this one and this photo of the kids doing one of their favorite outdoor activities: outlining one another with chalk in the driveway.

Seed or Sprout
Last week nothing was growing in my flowerbeds. This week, I have daffodils and tulips all over the place! Here are a couple of daffodils.

Swing or Drop
I took the kids to open gym at a local gym on Friday and FORGOT MY CAMERA. So many opportunities for this prompt. Oh well, we'll have to go with this photo, Ellie "dropping" bubbles into the puddle and Will popping them.

I Pray For You

Our layout assignment for Week 3 was to make a layout about someone that we pray for. Courtney suggested making a page for each of your children and using portraits and I liked that idea so I went with that. I started with my oldest and used her school portrait from preschool this year. I really enjoyed this project and it has made me take another look at what I am praying for and start thinking about what I should be praying for for my children.

Sketch Saturday #199

I made a birthday card last night using this week's sketch at Sketch Saturday. For some reason I really like making their sketches into masculine cards, and this one worked really well. I used my "Boys Will Be Boys" cartridge and my Cricut for the tools. Here are the sketch and my interpretation:

Unscripted Sketches- Thinking of You

Here are my last two cards for Operation Write Home from last week. For the first one I used the current sketch at Unscripted Sketches. I did a couple of inking techniques on this one, courtesy of Ranger and Tim Holtz.

I used Glossy cardstock for both the flower and the center of the flower. For the flower, I used a stamp and Resist Ink. After I dried the ink, I used my brayer and some distress ink and rolled it over the image.

For the flower center I used alcohol ink on glossy cardstock. I dropped the ink on the cardstock and then spread it using canned air. I used green ink and pearl mixative. After it was dry, I stamped the sentiment with Archival Ink. (Be careful stamping on glossy cardstock as it is really easy to smudge, I ended up having to redo the center of my flower for that reason.) I also used alcohol ink to make my white button match the color of the center of my flower.

For the background of my card, I rubbed a distress ink pad across the raised areas of my embossing folder and then ran my paper and folder through my machine.

For this card I just used the scraps of paper on my desk and put them together. I cut the sentiment using my Cricut and "Sentimentals" cartridge.

Card Patterns- Thinking of You

I made this card for my aunt who is going through some health issues. I used the current sketch at Card Patterns. I used all scraps and some stamps for this one.  I inked all the edges on this one too.  I really like how inking brings all the layers together and makes them look uniform.

Cardabilities- Baby Shower Card

I have a couple of cards to share today that I did over the weekend. The first is a baby shower card I made for my sister-in-law using the current sketch at Cardabilities. I used my Cricut and the "Zoobaloo" cartridge for the sentiment and "New Arrival" for the butterfly. The heart was from the center of the heart in the sentiment and I covered it with glossy accents. I inked the edges of all of my pieces and used a pen to make the trail behind the butterflies.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 3/18/12

I've decided I need to get back into taking photos and the Scavenger Hunt is always a good way to encourage it. Here are my interpretations for this week:
 Vintage
I struggled with this one, but I decided to go with this photo of my little guy in his new shoes standing on his sisters' scooter. I did a vintage action on the photo in Photoshop Elements.

 Word or Quote
This photo is from a couple of weeks ago when I made my first "Scrapbooking Your Faith" layout, I played a bit with the saturation.  

Nature's Own
I LOVE the leopards at the zoo and when we were there on Friday I took this shot of one of them napping on a branch.

 People
While we were at the zoo, my daughters and their friend kept randomly jumping up on the rocks along the trail, striking poses and holding the, pretending to be statues. It was pretty cute.

 Photographer's Choice
Will on the princess car (it makes noise and plays music, so it is fun) in our driveway, with a little sun flare.

Nuts About Sketches #205

Today is the reveal of sketch #205 at Nuts About Sketches. I really enjoyed this two pager and created a county fair layout for Addy's book using K and Company's "Berry Sweet" collection. To add a little interest to the background I sprayed some yellow mist on the white cardstock and built my page from there. I didn't have all the letters for the title in either of my pink sets of letters so I combined the two types and still ended up cutting up another letter to make an "r". For embellishments I fussy cut some of the berries from the paper and used some brown chipboard Thickers I've had for a while.

You can seet he reat of the team's interpretations here.

Sketch Saturday #198

I made this card last night using the current sketch at Sketch Saturday. As soon as I saw this sketch I knew I wanted to do something with butterflies or bubbles for those little circles. I pulled out my "Thankful Thoughts" set of Stampin' Up stamps and found this cute silhouette of a little girl catching butterflies. I stamped it in brown and then used clear embossing powder over it. I took a light blue ink pad and rubbed it over the paper to give the look of sky. For the little butterflies I borrowed a punch from my daughters for the punched ones and I used a bug background stamp and just stamped a couple of the butterflies (one on vellum, one on patterned paper) and fussy cut them. For the sentiment I used the "Live Simply" Cricut cartridge. I have to say I am very happy with how this turned out!

Mojo Monday 232

I have a card to share that I made last night. I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I followed it pretty much exactly. I used the rose cut from the "Walk In My Garden" Cricut cartridge.

Nuts About Sketches #204

Today's sketch is a one page sketch. I ended up rotating it 90 degrees and using smaller pictures so I could get 5 on the page. I used Bo Bunny Flower Child papers and embellishments.  I swapped the locations of the title and journaling as well.  The structure of the background piece of patterned paper worked really well with this sketch so I just started from there and added the turquoise strips and some stickers.  You can check out the rest of the design team's interpretations here.

Scrapbooking Your Faith: I Believe

This week's layout assignment was to make a layout around the prompt "I Believe." I have been really trying in the last year to submit to God's will and plan for me and have come to realize that God's will truly is the best thing! Courtney Walsh (the instructor of the class) encouraged us to use a self portrait for the page, but I ended up using a family photo because 1) I didn't have a self portrait, and 2) my family is a HUGE part of God's plan for me. I started out by looking at Courtney's instructions on how to make the page, but ended up really taking it in my own direction. I used the Basic Grey "Porcelain" collection from a couple of years ago. I haven't used this much lately and had kind of forgotten how beautiful it is! I had a lot of fun tearing and layering on this page. Now I need to figure out what I am going to do for the other part of this week's assignment...

Mojo Monday +1

I have finished my last two cards for the week. For the first one I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I did some custom coloring of the elements on my page. The twill ribbon was cream and I thought it would look better yellow so I pressed my "Wild Honey" Distress Ink pad over the ribbon and then sprayed it with water to help it soak in. My 5-year-old watched me do this and thought it was so cool! :) I have to admit, I was pretty happy with the outcome as well! I also wanted to use a flower for the scalloped circle element, but didn't have a flower in the right color, so I took a purple one and sprayed it with "Slate" Glimmer Mist.

This is the card that I did today using the scraps from my layout for "Scrapbooking Your Faith" (which I will post shortly). This card was pretty quick to put together, but I really like how it turned out!